Since my review of Draw Something a little over a week ago, the game’s creators OMGPOP have been snapped up by social gaming giant, Zynga. In an incredible deal reportedly worth $200 USD, the fledging company certainly has much to celebrate, proving again that it only takes one application to turn your fortunes around in the fast paced mobile applications industry.

I personally love the game despite some of its flaws but let’s be honest, there are definitely things that Draw Something could do better. Hopefully some of the guys at Zynga/OMGPOP would even read this article and incorporate the feedback in the next update. Read on for the top 5 things that would make Draw Something even more drawsome

1) More words

Draw Something desperately needs more randomised words in its pool to choose from. It’s been 2 weeks now since I picked up the game and have on many occasions been given the same set of words, not only for myself to draw but from other people’s drawings too. I’ve definitely seen the word Starfish on more than 5 occasions, that’s enough for me to guess correctly as soon as my mates draws more than one point of a star. Ridiculous. In addition to increasing the number of words, OMGPOP needs to focus on a more international set of words. As I don’t remember the number of times I’ve come across a 3 coin word that happens to a member of the Wu-Tang Clan! They may be a household name in USA but certainly not here in Europe.

2) Greater drawing precision

With the application name being Draw Something, it’s not as easy to as I expected. Granted I am not the most artistic of people, but I don’t think I am too bad either, at least I was getting As in art class during high school! The main problem is that it’s difficult to be accurate with the touch screen, this is made very obvious the more I used the smallest brush stroke. It would be nice if there was a zoom feature when drawing, something similar to how you can accurately select words in text messages on Apple’s iOS. That would certainly be drawsome.

3) Playback bar for partner guessing

It’s awesome that you can see how your partner gets on at guessing your drawing. However after playing for more than 2 weeks now, I have resorted to pressing the skip button, as my initial patience of sitting through lengthy playbacks has gone. One idea would be to have a playback bar where you control the speed and point of playback as often I have found I am most interested in the point at which my partner guesses my drawing correctly, this would save a lot of time having to sit through something you have seen before.

4) Saving a drawing (and sharing it on Facebook)

I don’t think I need to elaborate too much on this one. As we all know this is another desperately needed feature. For the more tech savvy and willing individuals out there, they have been able to take a screen shot using their phone’s native functionality and shared drawings on Facebook that way. However for the majority of less enthusiastic, there should be an option to save your drawing into an archive and share freely with what ever means they choose to.

5) Integrated Chat

With the world becoming ever more “social”, a chat feature is something that I would like to see in Draw Something. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy like WhatsApp but the basic feature to communicate should be in place. I can even imagine it being a channel for people to make new friends, especially if the Facebook integration becomes more involved, with Zynga now on board I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game ported over to Facebook.

So that’s it, my top 5 things Draw Something can do better. Please feel free to add your own comments below and start a discussion on how Zynga can improve this Drawsome title!

UPDATE: My prayers have been answered! At least partially. During the news announcement where Zynga revealed the purchase of OMGPOP, they also stated they would focus on drawing saving and integrated chat as their next application features. Good Stuff!

One of the things that really annoys me is when people just write out the word. I’m not sure how to solve that, but maybe some instructions pointing out that it’s cheating and ruins the fun. It would also be nice to just have a free drawing mode where you aren’t playing against anyone but just trying out ideas maybe for a word you thought of going for but didn’t want to risk. But, absolutely above all else, MORE WORDS.

Yeah those people are out to farm points to get more colours. There’s not much you can do to solve that. If you tend to play with other people then you’ll just have to delete them (as Toni S. says below)

I agree with Dave. I’m really starting to get annoyed with people who simply write the word you’re supposed to guess. SO irritating. Why do they bother playing at all? I try to be nice and gently remind them it is indeed a drawing game, not a word-writing game. Then I simply delete them and move on to a new player. Frustrating indeed.

Those people who just write the word just don’t understand at all. They probably want to get the points for the colours and have given up on drawing.

You’re doing the right thing by stopping the game with them. Personally I prefer playing with people I know – that way it’s like a funny talking point when I see them too :) But its definitely slower, and you might not get as many points that way.

I’ve had several players who wrote the word instead of drawing. One wrote, “Can’t draw,” then the word. But they did seem interested and were good at guessing my drawing. Maybe for some people the fun is in solving the other person’s drawing. After several rounds, one of these word writers actually started drawing, tentatively, but it seemed to be a process. Definitely need more words though for sure!

That’s great, it’s good that you’re patient. I was playing with some friends out in Asia and they were doing the whole word writing business, but they couldn’t guess most of my drawings! My brother who had the same problem eventually resorted to just writing the word on at the very end just to put them out of their misery!
I wonder when they’ll upgrade with more words? hmmmm….

Why is it that when you are watching friends guessing your drawing the answer comes up before the drawing is finished?
Most frustrating if you have taken time to do a good drawing!! and when questioned my friends swear they wait until drawing is done before typing the answer!!

Haha! I’ve seen exactly the same thing! It’s probably because there aren’t enough words in circulation and so the players can quickly narrow down the word just from the jumble of letters. You drawing then just acts as a guide/pointer instead.

If you take a good drawing then make sure to get a screen shot! If you’ve gone past the point where your friend has guessed then stop the game and restart it to see your friend reguess your drawing. (btw, the new Ice Cream Sandwich Android OS has screenshot capability by default if your current phone doesn’t have the ability.)

Stuck on the exact same 3 words…..I “quit” and try again but same 3 words appear to draw. “Ace, alarm and kingkong” any way to solve this problem without uninstalling and signing back up? Will lose my coins and colors if I do that.

Hi Kathryn,
I’ve asked around and unfortunately I haven’t found the same problem with anyone else. To clarify, are your getting the same three words again and again? If so, you should contact the developers about that. Otherwise, all three of those subjects seem relatively easy to draw.
Cheers

Mine is stuck on the exact same words…for almost 2 months…was ace, alarm, kingkong and now ace, acrobat, Adele. Definitely not fun for the drawer or the guesser! Tried reporting under feedback but never got a response.

You need to uninstall and reinstall the app.
These are the instructions given elsewhere on this forum by Mytech1234.
1. If you login by email, make sure you know your password. If you don’t, press the cog top right, go to account and change it to something you’ll remember.
2. Delete app.
3. Close down and restart device.
4. Reinstall app.
5. Close down and restart device.
6. If you play through Facebook, just login.
7. If you play via email, put in email address and password but DON’T PUT IN USERNAME.
8. Don’t skip any of the steps, and your game should return with coins, colours, bombs and players intact, plus your word choices restored.

Hi Linda,
Sorry, no idea how to fix that. They’ve had limitations on words for ages and at least they’ve increased the vocab. My only suggestion is to try and update the game if an update is available. (Don’t uninstall otherwise you’ll lose all your accumulated points! … and you’ve probably forgotten your login)
Hope that helps… (and very sorry for the really late reply)

1. If you login by email, make sure you know your password. If you don’t, press the cog top right, go to account and change it to something you’ll remember.
2. Delete app.
3. Close down and restart device.
4. Reinstall app.
5. Close down and restart device.
6. If you play through Facebook, just login.
7. If you play via email, put in email address and password but DON’T PUT IN USERNAME.
8. Don’t skip any of the steps, and your game should return with coins, colours, bombs and players intact, plus your word choices restored.

Hi Barb,
It seems that you and a few other people had the same problem. So this sounds like a server issue. I think they’ve sorted this out now, so you shouldn’t have a problem. If it still persists then I suggest you see if you can update the game. Failing that you should contact the developers.
Cheers

You need to uninstall and reinstall the app.
These are the instructions given elsewhere
1. If you login by email, make sure you know your password. If you don’t, press the cog top right, go to account and change it to something you’ll remember.
2. Delete app.
3. Close down and restart device.
4. Reinstall app.
5. Close down and restart device.
6. If you play through Facebook, just login.
7. If you play via email, put in email address and password but DON’T PUT IN USERNAME.
8. Don’t skip any of the steps, and your game should return with coins, colours, bombs and players intact, plus your word choices restored.

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